Yoga practitioners find calm on paddleboards beyond what they experience in a studio

Saturday

Jul 26, 2014 at 12:01 AMJul 26, 2014 at 9:43 AM

Is it normal to fall in the water? Not a typical question to ask before doing yoga, but the concern was on Ashley Arend's mind as she waited for a class to begin yesterday evening. Arend, 29, and four others took part in one of three stand-up paddleboard yoga classes - SUP yoga, for short - taught last night by Julie Wilkes, owner of Seven Studios in Downtown.

Allison Ward, The Columbus Dispatch

Is it normal to fall in the water?

Not a typical question to ask before doing yoga, but the concern was on Ashley Arend's mind as she waited for a class to begin yesterday evening.

"I'm probably going to spend most of my time in the water," the Upper Arlington resident conceded.

Arend would, after all, be executing her downward-facing dog on a 12-foot stand-up paddleboard in the Scioto River.

Fortunately, 20 minutes into the class, the avid yogi was doing her triceps push-ups and sun salutations as if back in the studio.

Unfortunately, she did end up wet after stumbling near the end of the session into 4-foot water while paddling.

Arend, 29, and four others took part in one of three stand-up paddleboard yoga classes - SUP yoga, for short - taught last night by Julie Wilkes, owner of Seven Studios in Downtown.

"Once I fell in, it almost made me more brazen," Arend said. "I was willing to try more things."

In parks. On Downtown rooftops. In hammocks. And, now, on paddleboards in water.

The list of places and manners in which the meditative exercise is practiced seems never-ending.

"Yoga is a practice of the Earth - all the Earth's systems of air, water, the ground - it's natural to be out and about while doing it," Wilkes said.

"Anything fitness, especially yoga, is such a sensory activity," she added. "It's about how you feel, not the perfect position. When you use the paddleboard, you get away from how you should look."

Wilkes held her first paddleboard yoga sessions on a Friday evening in June. The three classes proved so popular - they sold out in an hour - that she added the classes yesterday evening and similar sessions for August and September.

The yoga instructor had learned about paddleboard yoga before a recent trip to Charleston, S.C. While attending a retreat there, she rented a board and began doing a routine on the water by herself to test the practice.

"I stayed there two hours just trying out poses," said Wilkes, adding that she knew she would bring something similar to Columbus.

She teamed with Nate Wollenburg and Project 908, a local paddleboard manufacturer, to supply the boards for each session - which typically run about an hour, cost $30 and consist of 10 students.

Intrigued by the idea, Gahanna resident Jim Dickhaus tried the class in June.

He returned again this month, taken by both the challenge and calming effect of the water.

"It took a little getting used to," said Dickhaus, 53, who has been doing standard yoga for about a year. "You have to be much more deliberate in your moves."

And it's beneficial that Wilkes moves slower through poses and even skips some normally done in studios, he said.

The scenic view of the river and woods at the Scioto Audubon Metro Park heightened the appeal, he said.

"You're adding the visual of the water instead of just staring at the four walls in the studio."

The first group yesterday evening enjoyed a temperature in the 70s but battled wind that made them drift close to the shore.

Still, the nursing student, who had never tried yoga or paddleboard, gave the session a thumbs-up.

"I really enjoyed it," she said.

Wilkes began the class with breathing exercises to calm the students' nerves before slowly working her way into standard poses, such as the downward-facing dog and holding chair positions.

Then she challenged them with balance moves, including a headstand, which a few tried but the rest skipped.

Some students came close to falling in the water and others crashed their paddleboards into each other. But most appeared to have mastered the boards and the stretches by session's end.

The finale - perhaps Wilkes' favorite part - included a savasana pose, with students lying face-up on the boards.

"It's so beautiful to look up in the sky and feel weightless," Wilkes said, noting that a few people usually tear up at that point. "It's one of the most beautiful moments of the class."

Although stand-up paddleboard yoga is more popular on the coasts, other central Ohio studios have climbed aboard.

Yoga on High and SUP Columbus teamed to host their first classes in June at Alum Creek State Park. SUP Columbus is an entity of Aloha SUP, which has provided paddleboard yoga, rentals and classes in northeastern Ohio for the past three years.

The biweekly paddleboard classes at Alum Creek - held on Saturdays - proved so popular that SUP Columbus recently switched to weekly sessions, said Jim Lawhead, founder of Aloha SUP.

"Your yoga mat is now floating on water," he said.

Michele Vinbury, co-owner of Yoga on High, added: "Principles of mindfulness are portable. To take your practice to places you love - the mountains, the ocean, even upside down - can be so empowering."

The five students who took the first class last night said they planned to try the class again to add variety to their fitness and yoga schedules.

"It's something that I can get better at, that I can practice," Arend said. "The tricks I couldn't do today, I can do next time."

award@dispatch.com

@AllisonAWard

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.